Intriguing Technical Note

158, Lot: 56. Estimate $150. Sold for $270. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. Time of Darios I to Xerxes I. Circa 505-480 BC. AR Siglos (13mm, 4.71 g). Persian king or hero in kneeling/running stance right, shooting bow / Incuse punch. Carradice Type II (pl. XI, 12); BMC Arabia pl. XXVII, 23. Near VF, banker’s mark below king.

At the bottom obverse of this coin, below the banker’s mark, appears the crown of another king. This is not due to double striking, but the use of a die with multiple images on its face. This technique, to gang strike multiple coins with one die, has been noted before on Seleukid and Hasmonean coins, but not to our knowledge on a Persian siglos. This method of manufacture must have been pioneered by the Persians before being passed on to the Greeks.